Happy Birthday, Spare!

[EncantoSpice]

It’s the one year anniversary of the release of Spare, how are you all celebrating?!

In all seriousness, a year on what impact do you think the book has had on the Royal Family and the Sussexes?

In my opinion it clearly did very well commercially but in popular culture it became a bit of a joke. In terms of the RF I’m not sure it made much difference - to people who already didn’t like them it confirmed what they already believed, to people who did like them it was more evidence that Harry was no loss. I also think even a year later it has made reconciliation between William and Harry impossible.

There is one line about losing his virginity.

He got frost bite in his penis because he did a 200 mile walk in the Artic. It happened, it's part of his life story. I mean people sell books about their fight against testicular or cervical cancer. Should they keep quiet as mentioning genitals is.salacious.

He did talk about the.school.matron but he was a kid. Let's not pretend kids are never nasty.

I haven't read it so can't comment on the contents, except to say that I didn't see any reporting on topics that were of any wider significance than his personal feelings and beliefs. There are media outlets e.g. The Guardian who are not owned by Murdoch, do report negatively on the RF etc etc, but came up with very little beyond the fact that a monarchy is inherently unfair and hierarchical, which seems fairly self-evident. (And he has said in interviews that he supports the monarchy, so...)

It sold a lot of copies, and created a lot of noise, but doesn't seem to have led anywhere for Harry - maybe he has other projects in the pipeline, maybe he feels happier now he has made public his feelings and beliefs. Maybe not.

So overall, I would say it had some entertaining aspects at the time (the mistranslations were funny!) but it was a flash in the pan, and there was no 'smoking gun' of appalling treatment by the RF. It wasn't Watergate, or the Profumo affair, or (insert revelations ofyour choice that have genuinely changed anyone's point of view about people in power).

I agree with you. It’s provided lots of memes and jokes for the likes of South Park- do Americans use the word todger ?

I think that Harry has more impact in the anticipation stage of each book/interview/stunt than the actual revelations made because the media stirs us up into a frenzy.

Talk about clutching at straws 😥The difference between a memoir about conquering a disease and Harry wittering on about his penis is vast. Anyway people who write about conquering a disease don’t tend be consumed with self pity.

I think most of the general public are more.concerned about a member of the Royal family potentially having orgies with trafficked girls and if not, our moral focus is dead.

To be honest, I'm only interested in the opinions of the public who have read it Harry has taken on our toxic press so it's obvious the papers will twist it

He had frostbite. It's pretty serious.

Did he really have frostbite. I doubt it.

I think he wanted his side of the story out there before he took on the press as they would dig up every detail on him and could have been used as blackmail.

Why would he lie about that. It's not exactly something you'd want to brag about it.

It’s just the sort of thing Harry would relish telling about. And exaggerating.

What are the worst justifications ever?

Honestly I saw your title and thought you were wishing Harry ha Happy birthday is a nasty way 🤪

I think his book has done irreparable damage to his relationship with his brother and sister in law and even possibly his father

He’s not someone who is self-aware so whichever way the reader leaned before they read the book, it confirms what they already thought.

He could say there are 24 hours in a day and you'd say he was lying

The whataboutery on this thread 🤦🏻‍♀️
H & M’s children are going to read the book in the future. That is embarrassing 🙈

I have no idea why it would be embarrassing for them. The reported details that anti Harry posters focus on take up less than 5% of the book at a guess

Good grief, there are far far worse autobiographies out there. Hundreds of them. With intimate details about past lives. Do you feel the same about the children of those authors? Or just Harry's children?

Give examples of whataboutery in the the thread?

What is going to be embarrassing for them? That their dad is not a virgin and had a frostbite on his penis. Can't be worse than the world knowing your.dad wishes he was a tampon!

I think it did what Harry wanted it to do in the main.
1 give him an Income
2 gets his version of his story to the world.

It achieved both those aims really.
I think he believed his story would garner more public sympathy than it did but I doubt he regrets it.

Charles didn’t write about being a tampon in his biography. But I don’t think Charles should have authorised a biography. It didn’t do him any good.

Can't be worse than the world knowing your.dad wishes he was a tampon!

How many times will this untruth be repeated? Don't complain about lies and then expect to be taken seriously when you post them yourself.

He said it would have been "just his luck" if he came back as a tampon (ie the opposite of wanting to be one). And that conversation was made public thanks to phone hacking - he didn't put it out there into the public - just like Harry was hacked and had his private life violated.

The frostbite Harry suffered was not egregious in itself. It was the fact that he wrote about rubbing Elizabeth Arden cream on his penis whilst thinking about his mother (the smell of the cream reminded him of her). That sort of passage brought ridicule to his door. His publishers and editors let him down putting that sort of thing into print.

Is rubbing Elizabeth Arden cream a well known frostbite remedy?

How would I know